It’s redeeming when one’s gastroenterologist comes into the room and, grave and serious though he tends to be, says “You look really skinny.”

And that’s the theme of my current health situation, which is to say: optimistic.

Since my dosage of prednisone has been reduced from 40mg to 5mg (and now I get to wean off entirely within the next few weeks!), I’ve lost 10 pounds, my face is angular again, my skin isn’t gross, and I can sleep most nights.

I continue to take 6-mercaptopurine (6MP), a leukemia drug that just happens to do very well for Crohn’s, as well. I’ve been having frequent blood tests to monitor things like my white blood cell count and also signs of toxicity. As I am heterozygotically partially deficient in TPMT I have to worry about my body’s ability to metabolize 6MP correctly, but it seems perfect so far. My levels are great.

So it looks like I have a reached a handsome stasis. I will continue taking the 6MP and an anti-inflammatory called Pentasa for, oh, I don’t know, forever?

The doctor’s feeling is that I’m very much in a nice remission state and that most of his patients that get to this point for the most point stay there. Well, yay!

Yeah, sometimes I don’t feel super. Sometimes my tubes bark. Sometimes I feel barfy. Sometimes things get a bit messy. But it’s OK. Most of the time I feel certifiably fine.